TITLE:
Heavy Metals Accumulation in Trees Grown in Urban and Rural Areas
AUTHORS:
Shrrog Hammed Hlail
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Metals, Urban and Rural Area, Eucalyptus, Olea, Zizphus, Conocarpus
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.7 No.8,
August
12,
2019
ABSTRACT: Since heavy metals are the big concerns for the
public health today. Metals play a vital role as structural and functional
components of proteins and enzymes in cell. The most important pathway of
metals to transport into human is from soil to plant to human, so this study was carried out to measure the contents of heavy metals concentrations in
plants leaves from their natural habitats of urban and rural area in Nasiriyah
city, Iraq. The
study was conducted to investigate the heavy metals content of four plant
species of Eucalyptus, Olea, Zizphus and Conocarpus from urban (Nasiriyah city) and rural area
(farms north of Nasiriyah). The concentration of heavy metals was
tested, including the zinc, copper and lead. Heavy metals were detected using
an atomic absorption spectrometer. The results showed that the highest
concentration of heavy metals in Olea leaves and Eucalyptus leaves were found from the urban areas. Zn was the most dominant metal whereas
Pb had the lowest concentration for all urban and rural area. Among the Eucalyptus, Olea, Zizphus and Conocarpus studied, showed higher heavy
metals concentration (Zn, Cu and Pb) than rural area. The results indicated
that the Zizphus and Conocarpus leaves of urban and rural area
had the lowest heavy metals content compared with Eucalyptus and Olea.
The results suggested that Eucalyptus and Olea leaves are good
sources to treat the pollution of heavy metals. Our study provides a detailed
examination of habitat location and plant species effects on potential of heavy
metals in trees.